


Three Sides

by slightly_ajar



Category: MacGyver (TV 2016)
Genre: Angst, Bruises, Pre-Slash If You Squint, Protective Jack, Team as Family, implied abusive relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-09-23
Updated: 2018-09-23
Packaged: 2019-07-16 01:47:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16075787
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/slightly_ajar/pseuds/slightly_ajar
Summary: Jack knows Mac is lying to him and he wants to understand why.This story came from the prompt ‘Lies’ that KatieComma posted on her tumblr.I don’t usually write MacDalton but this reads as pre-slash to me, you are welcome to draw your own conclusions :)





	Three Sides

**Author's Note:**

> Please see the notes at the end of the story for specific warnings.

_There are three sides to every story, mine, yours and the truth - Unknown_  
  


“Go, go, go!”

Jack slammed the van doors shut. The metallic clash was loud but not as deafening as the explosion that blew off the doors out of the building Mac and Jack had just sprinted from.

Riley slammed down the accelerator. Tires squealed. And, carried by momentum, Jack landed on top of where Mac was sprawled after tumbling into the van first. They both let out an ‘ooof’ at the impact then Jack flopped into his back with a groan. 

He grinned. Mac met his eye, his smile as wide as a Cheshire cat with a dish of cream too. 

“That was awesome, man!” Jack crowed, adrenaline doing a Snoopy dance up and down his veins. 

“Yeah!” Mac agreed breathlessly, his chest rising and falling rapidly under his wet shirt. “But let’s not ever do it again.” 

”Hell no! My heart couldn’t stand it.” Jack slapped an open palm to his own soaking chest. Their escape had been crazy. And dangerous. And thrilling. 

“But it was awesome!” 

They bumped fists, their wet clothes squelching underneath them as they rocked with the motion of the van.

Bozer looked back at them from the passenger seat and wrinkled his nose in disgust. “You’re both dripping.” He threw them each a towel from the bag near his feet. “What are you covered in?” 

Mac’s face vanished under the towel as he scrubbed at his head, his hair standing up in spikes as he dried it. “You don’t want to know, Boze.” 

Jack rubbed at the back of his neck with his own towel, drawing breath to grumble about its paltry size and unsatisfying weight, when Mac pushed his shirt up to dry his arms and Jack saw the bruises. 

The ones Mac had said were from their last mission. 

The ones he had lied about. 

The first time Jack had noticed purpling marks on his partner's skin Mac had explained they were remnants of an op and Jack had believed him. Why wouldn’t he? He didn’t remember Mac being injured but he didn’t have eyes on him for every second of a mission. 

The second time Jack saw bruises he raised an eyebrow, but he thought they might have been left by enthusiastic bedroom activities and didn’t pursue his concern. 

The third time worry settled with heavy certainty in Jack’s gut. The marks he spotted weren’t from a mission. Both he and Mac were receiving training and had been based in the Phoenix for a week. And since Mac was surprisingly coy about his sex life for a young man and would have blushed like Jack’s great aunt Maud at a movie's love scene when he asked about them, Jack knew the bruises hadn’t been left by Mac and his boyfriend enjoying each other with vigour. He shrugged off Jack’s question with an answer about moving his bike onto his deck but Jack knew it was a lie. 

So Jack started lying too. 

He started following Mac’s boyfriend when he told Mac he was going to get his car serviced. And when he said he was going for a run. And when he said he was meeting an old army buddy for a beer. And when Mac thought he was at home nursing a sore shoulder. 

Jack watched Alec arriving at work, heading to the gym, being rude to the girl in the dry cleaners, out on a date with Mac. He stared at the hand resting on the small of Mac’s back as the two of them walked to his car, obsessing about the layers of meaning the gesture could hold. Was it possessive or affectionate? Controlling or supportive? 

  
  


Jack arranged to meet Diane. He wanted to be a coward and hold the conversation he needed to have with her over the phone, so he arranged to meet her for coffee one Thursday afternoon instead, cowardice not being a trait that Daltons indulged in. He owed her the chance to look him in the eye and tell him to go to hell when he asked her the question that was plaguing him. 

They exchanged greetings and pleasantries. She was well, work was keeping her busy, she’d taken up painting and was going to a class once a week, she was enjoying it and she’s already learnt a lot. 

“Now all that is out of the way, Jack, why don’t you tell me about whatever is on your mind?” 

Diane was as smart as her daughter and hadn’t forgotten what she’d learned about Jack while they were a couple. She’d always been able to read him and call him on his bullshit. It was one of the things he’d loved about her. 

Jack watched his forefinger trace spirals in a scattering of spilled sugar on their table and blundered his way through a story about being worried for a friend until his tale clattered into the reason he’d called her. 

“Why stay? If they’re being hurt, why would they stay?” 

“The bad stuff is easier to believe, especially if the way you are being treated echoes the things you tell yourself inside your head.” 

Jack took a moment to dwell on that. Wondering what ‘bad stuff’ would resonate with the things Mac said to himself. Thinking that if that Alec treated Mac in a way that mirrored the harsh insecurities Mac held there could never be restitution severe enough to satisfy Jack’s fury. 

“I don’t know what to do. I’m not sure they are the type of person that kind of thing happens too.” Mac was a genius and a survivor. Part of Jack doubted that he could be caught up with someone who was hurting him. 

“Anyone can find themselves in a toxic relationship, even the people you think are strong or smart or self-aware. There isn’t a type of person it happens to.” 

Jack flinched, belatedly hearing judgement of Diane’s past implied in his question. “I’m sorry, I didn’t meant that you…I wasn’t saying that…that you were...” Jack took a large sip of coffee to wash away the uncomfortable lump of emotion gathering in his throat. 

He’d formed his picture of Diane’s relationship with Elwood from the tiny pieces of information she’d revealed to him during their time together. She’d been guarded about her past and he’d been carefully respectful to show her he was nothing like her ex. He’d wanted to help her move on from her relationship with Riley’s dad and prove to her that she was worthy of so much more, and now here he was taking her for coffee to ask painful questions. 

“I’m sorry I’ve brought you here to bring up reminders of the bad old days.” 

Diane’s face softened into a smile at his discomfort. “It’s okay.” She laid a hand on his arm, “Jack, be honest with me. Is it Riley? The friend you’re worried about?” 

“No! No, I swear, Diane. I’m not talking about Riley.” 

“Good. You should know that I’m relying on you to help me to dispose of a body if anyone ever dares treat my girl like that.” She was deadly serious under her smile. 

“I’d bring the shovels, don’t you worry about that.” 

  
  


A week later Jack watched as Mac went silent and still during a drive towards a suspected Organisation dead drop. He could tell that Mac was replaying a memory as they speed away from LA. His forehead creased and his eyes were focused inwards, flicking from side to side. Jack almost slammed his foot on the break to bring them skidding to a halt as Mac’s muscles tensed, his eyes growing shadowed with distress and the fingers of one hand pressing against his lips as he curled in to protect himself from whatever he was reliving in his mind’s eye. 

‘Tell me the truth!’ Jack had wanted to demand. ‘Tell me how to help you!’ 

“Are you okay, man?” He’d asked instead. “You’re not getting car sick are you?” 

“No.” Mac focused back on his surroundings with a jolt. “I’m fine. Alec’s neighbours had a party last night so we didn’t get much sleep, that’s all.” 

Jack wasn’t certain of anything. He didn’t know how to approach a subject that could to make Mac completely withdraw from him. Maybe he had completely misread the situation and was jumping at shadows, maybe Mac was lying because he felt uncomfortable talking to Jack about the first same sex relationship he had been in since meeting they’d met. Maybe Mac wanted to protect Alec, or he was ashamed, or didn’t know how to ask for help. 

Or maybe he was hoping that Jack would just mind his God damn business for once. 

  
  


The final straw came when Jack slapped Mac on the back as he wished him good morning and Mac cried out and flinched so violently that he spilled the coffee he was holding. 

“S-sorry!” Mac grabbed a cloth to mop up the widening brown stain. “I didn’t hear you, I’m sorry!” 

  
  


That evening Jack waited outside Alec’s apartment for him to come home. He was just there for a friendly discussion about how to be a gentleman. That was all. 

He hadn’t even brought his gun with him and as he stood watching the road Jack breathed deeply and did his very best to remain calm. He even practiced a friendly smile. Every muscle involved in the action protested but he was able to make his lips curve upwards 

Jack didn’t have any actual evidence of Alec’s behaviour towards Mac but every instinct that had kept him alive and helped him protect the people he cared about was telling him that he needed to step in. That Alec needed to understand Jack’s feelings about Mac health and wellbeing and the lengths he was willing to go to protect them. 

Things started badly when Alec’s rolled his eyes as he spotted Jack lounging against his GTO. They grew a little worse when Jack told Alec he wanted like a word with him and Alec replied that he was busy. When Jack told Alec the word he’d wanted to have was about Mac, he looked momentarily bored and aggravated, the genial mask he usually wore slipping for an instant. 

“I don’t think I need relationship advice from you.” Alec smiled his charming smile. The one that made him look kind and sincere. The one that had attracted Mac in the first place and that Jack suspected was the start of all the lies. “Thank you, though.” He added before trying to step around Jack and into his apartment. 

Jack moved to block his path. 

“I’m worried about Mac.” Jack said. “He’s not okay. He hasn’t been okay for weeks.” 

Alec hummed. “He’s seems fine when we’re together.” 

“He hasn’t been himself ever since the two of you started getting serious.” 

“If he’s unhappy it’s nothing to do with me. Maybe his discontent is due to other factors in his life. Like work. Or friends perhaps.” Alec let the inferred insult ring out with a moment of silence and a raised eyebrow. “I can talk to him if you like. If he hasn’t felt comfortable discussing his problems with you maybe he’ll talk to me about them. Now if you don’t mind, I have to be up early in the morning so I’d like to --” 

He moved to walk past Jack who stepped in front of him again with his hand raised at chest height. 

“Buddy,” Jack forced the word past his teeth in the calmest tone he could muster, “you aren’t understanding me. I think you are what’s causing his problems. I think you aren’t treating him right so I’ve come to remind you how lucky you are to be with Mac --” 

“Well isn’t that adorable.” 

“-- and to let you know that the people who care about him are willing to do anything to keep him safe. Anything.” 

“Is that a threat?” Alec’s voice dropped and his head leaned to the side in a reptilian tilt. A chink formed in his affable surface giving Jack a glimpse of something else behind his eyes. “Are you threatening me? You’re a bathroom tile salesman. What are you doing to do? Give me a bad quote on my shower?” 

Jack squeezed his eyes shut and let out a slow sigh, consciously uncurling his fists. “I think you’d be surprised at what this bathroom tile salesman is capable of.” 

“I really don’t think I would.” Alec leaned forward into Jack’s personal space, malevolence clear in the tension in his jaw. “I think what happens between Mac and I is none of your business and I think it’s probably time for you go to home. Don’t you have a TV dinner for one and an empty apartment to get back to?” 

“Mac is part of my family,” Jack’s resolution to have a relaxed conversation was being severely tested. Alec’s arrogance and the capacity for cruelty he was revealing made Jack's blood heat, “and I am prepared to do whatever I have to do to keep my family safe.” 

Alec sneered and the charming veneer was gone. “What makes you think he needs protecting? Mac is good, he likes the way our relationship works just fine.” 

“I hate to break this to you but he doesn’t.” Jack thought of the way Mac had winced when he had touched his back and how his hands had shaken as he scrubbed at the mess his spilled drink had made. 

“Has he told you that?” 

“No, but I can tell when something is bothering him, we met a long time before he started dating you.” Jack had seen Mac triumphant and defeated. Devastated and overjoyed. He had been there for some of his worst moments and at the times when he had been at his best. Jack knew him, all of him, better than the vindictive waste of skin in front of him. 

“Oh, that’s right, you first met him when he was all fresh faced and innocent. He’s told me about that.” 

“We’ve been friends for years and I’m not going to stand by and do nothing while he’s in a situation that’s hurting him.” 

“And you think that ‘situation’ is me?” Alec’s contempt was obvious in the curl of his lip. 

“I do. I know him better than you ever could.” 

Alec scoffed. “You don’t know him the way I do.” 

“I know something is wrong with him and I’d bet the farm that what’s wrong is you. And it stops now. Either you stop it or I will.” Jack drew himself up to his full height and lifted his chin. His intention wasn’t to shift into his full alpha male posture, he didn’t want to present that level of aggression. Not yet. But he wanted Alec to know that he wasn’t intimidated by him. And that he was capable of more than a little intimidation himself.

“He’s never asked me to stop.” 

“Mac’s a smart guy but he can be as dumb as a box of hair when it comes to his own safety. That’s why he needs me.” 

“How do you know your precious boy doesn’t enjoy what we do together? I’ve never heard him complain,” Alec twisted a smile into something lecherous, “but I have heard him beg.” 

“You need to stop talking like that.” Jack couldn’t let Alec talk about Mac that way. Showing Alec he was getting under his skin might be a tactical error but Jack couldn’t bear the leering, derisive look in his eyes. 

Alec lowered his voice with a coarse, knowing smirk. “If he didn’t like the way I fuck with him he wouldn’t come back to my ‘situation’ for more.” 

“Stop talking like that right now,” Jack growled, “or this conversation will not remain civil.” 

“I knew it!” Alec shouted, rearing back, his eyes blazing with triumph. “Look at you, getting all worked up over him like he’s a princess locked in a tower.” He jabbed a finger in Jack’s face, simmering with aggression. “I told Mac you were hot for him but the worthless little shit didn’t believe me.” 

Jack went still. Silently and utterly furious. 

“You speak to him like that?” 

It was rare for Jack to become so angry that he felt calm. Anger usually manifested for him with a raised voice, quick movements and decisive action. Those impulses were still there as he stood in front of Alec but they were banked up behind a steady wall of control, waiting for the right moment be unleashed. 

“He keeps insisting that you’re just friends but I knew there was more than that between you!” 

“We are friends, friends that are like family.” 

“Don’t lie to me, I’ve seen the way you look at him.” Alec pushed his chest forward in a show of machismo, a dominant male displaying before a challenger. “You want him. You want it to be your hands on him. You’re jealous.” 

"You don't know what you're talking about." 

"You're jealous," Alec sneered, "you want to have your fingers in his hair, your weight holding him down and for it to be you leaving marks on his skin, not me." 

Jack planted his weight solidly into his feet and braced his muscles to react. Every sense and scrap of his training was focused on Alec. Gauging his reaction time, calculating weaknesses, getting ready. Alec kept ranting, slashing his hand through the air with vehemence, his lips drawn back bearing his teeth in a snarl. 

“I told that bitch that he should just have at it with you. That maybe if he got on his knees and sucked your cock just right he could have a daddy that wouldn’t leave him.” 

There was some unpleasantness after that. 

Rage drove the swing of Jack’s fists and by the time the burning throb of anger had diminished he was overlooking the city and leaning against his car with his phone pressed to his ear and the sound of muffled thumps coming from inside his car’s trunk. 

“Webber.” Matty’s voice was authoritative and professional despite the late hour. 

“I have a favour to ask. It’s not for me. It’s personal, not professional.” 

Jack’s counted the slowing thuds of his heart as he wanted for an answer. It only took two beats for one to come. 

“Is it about Mac’s boyfriend?” 

“It is.” 

“I’ve got this. Where are you?” 

  
  


The patient relocation vehicle pulled away thirty five minutes later taking Alec to a secure rehabilitation facility across the border where he would stay until he learned how to behave in a civilised manner. 

Everything had been arranged, Matty had been very thorough. She assured Jack that when Alec was eventually deemed fit to leave the centre the Phoenix would be watching. 

  
  


Jack pulled up outside Mac’s house as dawn was breaking. His street was quiet and tranquil under the pink sky, the only movement was the rustle of a bird in the undergrowth. Jack watched his hand knock on the front door, the wood harsh against his bruised knuckles. He didn’t know what he was going to tell to Mac when he saw him, not sure what he had driven all the way from the edge of the city to say. 

He had expected to feel the satisfaction of bestowing justice when Alec had been escorted away but instead of a sense of completion Jack had felt like a door had been opened. His sleepless night left him refreshed rather than weary. 

Mac opened his front door and blinked out at Jack with a sleepy posture and a magnificent crown of bedhead. 

“I’m here to tell you the truth.” Jack said. 

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings for implied domestic violence, including discussion of bruises, nothing graphic is shown but there is a conversation that contains some abusive language.


End file.
